In Cleveland we've got some areas that are very blighted along with others that are very affluent with varying levels of neighborhoods in between.

For once i would like to be part of something that isn't focused on getting money out of me to get to the next level.

A broker has a high level view that can make strong recommendations for you.

What’s YOUR comfort level?

Once you have established a relationship with a construction team then you start to trust whether a permit is needed or not. 

Lots of almost fraud level "turn key" companies out there.  

We are entry level, looking to start with a duplex, triplex or quad and live in one unit.

So your CoCROI starts shrinking with the very first mortgage payment and levels out at the cap rate. 

So far I've been blindly trusting rentometer and done very little cross checking with CL.

As for over-leveraging, so long as you retain around 30%+ equity in properties whose rent more than covers all expenses (including up to 70% LTV), would you really (need to) worry about that level of debt?